Tag Archives: Israel

In June 2015, retired lieutenant general Michael Flynn took a little-noticed trip to Egypt and Israel, paid for by a U.S. company he was advising. The company hoped to build more than two dozen nuclear plants in the region in partnership with Russian interests. Flynn’s quiet involvement in that project – and …

The IDF fired upon Syrian army positions Sunday evening near the Israeli border in the Golan Heights on Sunday, the IDF spokesperson’s office reported. Syrian forces had been working to fortify a military outpost in the buffer zone, in violation of ceasefire agreements, and an IDF tank fired deterring shots in …

The Latest on the status of the Palestinians’ office in Washington (all times local): 1:05 p.m. The Palestinians are threatening to cut off all communication with the Trump administration if it goes through with plans to shutter the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat (sah-EEB’ EHR’-ih-kaht) …

A Saudi newspaper published an unprecedented interview on Thursday with the Israeli military chief, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot. It marks the first time any senior Israel Defense Forces officer, let alone the chief of staff, has been interviewed by a media organization in Saudi Arabia, which does not have diplomatic ties with …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged recently 800 million shekels ($226 million) for security measures along West Bank roads used only by settlers, bypassing Arab villages. Pocketing that significant pledge in public funds, head of the Samaria Regional Council Yossi Dagan declared, “It’s not a question of who won — …

Prince Charles has come under fire after it came to light that he blamed the “influx of foreign Jews” for causing unrest in the Middle East and called on the US to “take on the Jewish lobby” in a letter penned in 1986. Writing to his friend Laurens van der …

The United States and Russia are nearing an agreement on Syria for how they hope to resolve the Arab country’s civil war once the Islamic State group is defeated, officials said Thursday. If clinched, the deal was expected to be announced by President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin …

Harvey Weinstein hired Black Cube, which markets itself as a group of ex-members of Israeli intelligence units specialising in business and litigation challenges, to help stop the publication of abuse allegations against him, according to The New Yorker. One account in The New Yorker article described two private investigators from …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD Used books are one of my favourite pastimes here in Egypt and one of the few things that keep you human in these compressed times and, as luck would have, I was drawn to the front cover of an oldish novel from the 1980s. …

The Israeli military, which has been launching airstrikes against Syria, could be preparing to cross into its territory now. It says it’s ready to act to protect the Druze village of Hader, located on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, after a car bomb killed nine people and injured …

By Mohamed Mohamed November 2, 1917 marks an infamous chapter of Palestinian history, when the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued a statement declaring British support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Coming from the most powerful empire of the time, the Balfour Declaration provided a major endorsement and propaganda …

Jared Kushner made a secret visit to Saudi Arabia last week with other officials from President Donald Trump’s administration for talks on peace in the Middle East. The president’s son-in-law and senior adviser made what was his third trip to the Gulf kingdom this year alone, Politico reported, citing a …

A civil rights group on Friday called unconstitutional a Houston suburb’s hurricane repair grant program that says residents cannot boycott Israel as a condition of receiving any money. The American Civil Liberties Union said it’s considering legal action against the city of Dickinson over its Hurricane Harvey repair grant program, …

The Israeli Air Force attacked a Syrian antiaircraft battery on Monday that Israel said had fired a missile at its planes while they were on a reconnaissance mission over neighboring Lebanon. No Israeli planes were hit, the Israeli military spokesman Lt.-Col. Jonathan Conricus said. The counter-strike took place two hours …

Senior Trump administration officials said on Sunday that the United States was committed to remaining part of the Iran nuclear accord for now, despite President Donald Trump’s criticisms of the deal and his warnings that he might pull out. Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that Tehran …

Lebanon’s Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil on Thursday said a tender had closed on a first round of offshore energy blocks, and told local media that two consortia had submitted bids. It will take years for revenue from any of the blocks to start flowing to the country, he said …

A day after the United States and Israel pulled out of the U.N. culture and education body citing anti-Israel bias, UNESCO elected its first ever Jewish director general. Audrey Azoulay, France’s former culture minister, eked out a win over Qatar’s candidate and frontrunner Hamad bin Abdoulaziz Al-Kawari. UNESCO’s executive body …

In 2015, Israeli government hackers saw something suspicious in the computers of a Moscow-based cybersecurity firm: hacking tools that could only have come from the National Security Agency. Israel notified the NSA, where alarmed officials immediately began a hunt for the breach, according to people familiar with the matter, who …

BRITAIN’S BROADCASTING REGULATOR on Monday concluded that Al Jazeera did not violate any rules in its controversial undercover investigation exposing the Israeli embassy’s campaign to target British citizens critical of Israel, a campaign that included attempts to destroy the careers of pro-Palestinian British politicians. The move by the communications regulator, known as …

Russia is set to close major arms deals with two nations, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, once vehemently opposed to Moscow’s presence in the Middle East. In a historic visit to Moscow, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to discuss oil, Iran’s growing …

Israel is “terrified” of Jeremy Corbyn becoming British prime minister and will do everything they can to stop him, a leading Israeli activist and writer told an audience of Labour party members on Monday. Miko Peled, who has spoken around the world against Israel’s occupation, was speaking in Brighton during …

Israel’s defense minister said on Tuesday President Bashar al-Assad was winning Syria’s civil war and urged the United States to weigh in as Damascus’s Iranian and Hezbollah allies gain ground. Avigdor Lieberman’s comments marked a reversal for Israel, where top officials had from the outset of fighting in 2011 until …

Beleaguered Gazans exulted at seeing the two main Palestinian factions take an important step toward reconciliation on Monday, as the Palestinian Authority’s prime minister arrived to take the reins of their impoverished territory’s government. If the effort succeeds, the Palestinians could have a unified leadership for the first time in …

More than 30,000 rocket-propelled grenades discovered on board the freighter named the Jie Shun which the hermit kingdom had decorated with deceptive Cambodian colours.Despot leader Kim Jong-un’s cargo was stopped in its tracks when the US warned Cairo about the incoming ship.An investigation launched by the United Nations found that …

By Alastair Crooke Plainly, Syria’s success – notwithstanding the caution of President Bashar al-Assad in saying that signs of success are not success itself – in resisting, against the odds, all attempts to fell the state suggest that a tipping point in the geopolitics of the region has occurred. We …

Lebanon’s Hezbollah accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Sunday of pushing the region to war in Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, and said nowhere in Israel would be safe if such a conflict were to erupt. Tensions have risen this year between Iran-backed Hezbollah and its arch …

By Lamis Beshara –World leaders gathered at the 72nd meeting of the UN Nation’s General Assembly, not to denounce the violence and barbarity driving the world today but rather to confirm their choices for war by maintaining and reiterating same stances against each other’s without any hope for change, as …

Israeli officials believe that Iran is winning its bid for dominance in the Middle East, and they are mobilizing to counter the regional realignment that threatens to follow. The focus of Israel’s military and diplomatic campaign is Syria. Israeli jets have struck Hezbollah and Syrian regime facilities and convoys dozens …

Three Israelis have been shot dead by a Palestinian at the entrance to a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israeli police say. The gunman, a 37-year-old from a nearby village, was also shot and died later. Police say he pulled out a gun as he waited to enter …

Israel is seeking to thwart the Palestinian Authority’s latest bid to join the international law enforcement body Interpol over concerns it would leak sensitive information to Palestinian terror groups. Interpol’s General Assembly will convene for its annual meeting in China on Tuesday, where the international policing organization will vote on …

Former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro will reportedly give testimony to Israeli police in the coming weeks as part of an ongoing investigation into suspicions Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received bribes from an Israeli-born Hollywood mogul in exchange for advancing his interests. Netanyahu is said to have asked Shapiro …

A new bombshell report alleges that a meeting between high-level Israeli officials and their American counterparts last month deteriorated when National Security Adviser H.R McMaster brushed off Israel’s concerns about Hezbollah, at one point backing up an aide who denied that Hezbollah is a terror organization. According to the report …

Israel and the U.S. inaugurated the first American military base on Israeli soil on Monday, which will serve dozens of soldiers operating a missile defense system. The move comes at a time of growing Israeli concerns about archenemy Iran’s development of long-range missiles. Together with the U.S., Israel has developed …

A Chicago Palestinian activist with a decades-old record of bombings in Jerusalem will be deported to Jordan on Tuesday, her spokesman said. Supporters and community activists plan to gather at O’Hare International Airport before Rasmea Odeh, 70, departs for Jordan, said Hatem Abudayyeh, coordinator of her defense committee. Odeh pleaded …

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have met for the first time in public in what Egypt said was part of an effort to revive the Middle East peace process. Egyptian authorities said in a statement the two had met on Monday ahead of the …

By Dr. Swee Chai Ang This September will be the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Sabra-Shatila Massacre in West Beirut. Three thousand unarmed refugees were killed from 15-18 September 1982. I was then a young orthopedic trainee who had resigned from St Thomas Hospital to join the Christian Aid Lebanon medical …

It is 4:30 a.m. and pitch dark when the sick Syrian children and their mothers begin to cross into ­Israel. There’s a 1-year-old girl with a squint, and a 2-year-old with a birth defect that prevents him from walking. The family of a slight 12-year-old is concerned that she is …

The controlling shareholder of one of Israel’s largest supermarket chains was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of corruption. Rami Levy, chief executive of Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing, as well as a local politician, another businessman and a reporter were detained for questioning for alleged fraud and breach of trust involving …

From an argument over dog poo to an alleged anti-Semitic caricature he posted on Facebook, Yair Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister’s 26-year-old son, is courting controversy with his social media activity. The criticism of Netanyahu in Israel is turning into a sideshow to more weighty events: criminal investigations into corruption …

Israel’s attorney general is considering indicting the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sara, on suspicion of using state funds for personal dining and catering services amounting to some $100,000, the justice ministry said on Friday. The ministry statement said the attorney general was considering prosecuting Sara Netanyahu for offences …

Israel’s defence minister on Thursday issued a veiled warning to Syria, without confirming or denying what Damascus said was an Israeli air strike on its territory. Syria’s army accused Israel of hitting one of its positions, killing two people in an attack earlier the same day that a monitor said …

Syria says Israeli jets have hit a military base in the west of the country, amid reports of a strike on a chemical weapons factory. An army statement said rockets fired from Lebanese airspace targeted the site near Masyaf, killing two soldiers. Unconfirmed Arab media reports say a chemical weapons …

Last week in London, Israel Police questioned Israeli billionaire Arnon Milchan under caution on suspicion that he gave a bribe to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “Haaretz” reports. According to the report, this was the first time that Milchan has been investigated as a suspect in the so called “1000 case” …

US President Donald Trump will reportedly meet Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly later this month. According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, a senior White House official said Trump intended to meet “a long list of world leaders on a wide …